The River Lea

Humans and nature

"In this actual world there is then not much point in counter-posing or restating the great abstractions of Man and Nature. We have mixed our labour with the earth, our forces with its forces too deeply to be able to draw back and separate either out."
- Raymond Williams (1980)

Favourate Quote:

We end, I think, at what might be called the standard paradox of the twentieth century: our tools are better than we are, and grow better faster than we do. They suffice to crack the atom, to command the tides. But they do not suffice for the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
- Aldo Leopold (1938)

Lea Valley and River Photos

A recent addition to the Google Earth software incorporated aerial photographs of London from 1945. If you have Google Earth installed on your computer you can explore these maps yourself. Navigate to London and then click on the Clock button to find a slider that shows the historical photos.